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| Written by Administrator | |||||
| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 10:31 | |||||
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Latest News at Blue Dolphin Swim School
Blue Dolphin Swim School was awarded an enviromental award for its swimming pool and building.
only recently that I came to truly appreciate my investment over the years, when I got to cash in on it. Earlier in the year,my youngest daughter Jemimah, who was only 3 and a half at the time, decided to bring her ‘big girl’ bike (a two wheel bicycle with training wheels) for the first time on our regular morning walk around the lake. Up until this point she had always gone in the stroller and been pushed.Needless to say at 3 and a half, she was not yet confident with using her pedal brakes and not all that good at steering, so she stayed close by me (to begin with). As she got more and more confident, I noticed that she got faster and faster and slowly further and further away from me, despite my best efforts to keep up. I kept calling out to her to slow down and stop and wait for me. About half way around, when she was only about 10 metres ahead of me, I called out for her to use her brakes as she went down an ever so slight incline in the path, which also veered slightly to the left right next to the edge of the lake.To my horror, she turned around to ask me what I had said, increasing in speed and missed the left hand corner in the path. It all happened in slow motion to me – her bike hit the concrete lip on the path and as she was catapulted off the bike into the lake, her bike followed and sunk to the bottom. She was far enough away from me that I couldn’t see where she ended up, so I ran as fast as I could, fearing that she too had sunk to the bottom or got trapped beneath the bike.To my absolute delight, as I got closer I could see her making her way back to the edge of the lake and by the time I arrived she was clinging to the concrete wall, very upset and covered in very smelly weed.The bike was nowhere to be seen! Once I had safely retrieved my daughter I too braved the waters and retrieved the bicycle which also emerged covered in weed. It was when I had to climb into the water myself to retrieve the bicycle that I realised what a investment I had made in swimming lessons, as the water was thigh deep on me – about the same height as my daughter.The fact that she immediately got herselfback to the edge and did it by swimming (it was too deep for her to have waded there) – I owe to the swimming lessons she has been attending weekly since the age of 6 months old.Whilst I was only 10 metres away, what if I hadn’t been, or if I hadn’t seen her go in? I’m confident now she would have done exactly the same thing and saved herself.What an investment – an investment for life!
Lessons helped save my Life Recently I took my 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter to a group picnic on the foreshores of Lake Burley-Griffin in Canberra. There were a number of families in attendance, and after lunch a casual cricket match started. My daughter was with two other 4 year old girls at the edge of the playing area. I was chatting when the two little girls who had been playing with my daughter came and stood politely beside me then reported that my daughter had fallen in the water. I instinctively looked towards the shallows closest to where the girls had been but saw nothing and asked where she was - they turned and pointed to the pier, where the water is deep, reedy and murky. I sprinted to the pier with the cricketers in hot pursuit, and found my little girl in the water a metre below land-level, crying out and clinging to one of the pier stanchions. A Navy father jumped into the water and brought her to safety. It turned out that, unobserved by any of the adults in attendance, the little girls had walked to the pier, and my daughter overbalanced and fell in. Happily, she had the presence of mind to swim to the pier and hold on and call for help. Luckily, she did not hit her head on the way into the water. Both of my children have been attending swimming lesson for some three years - the lessons helped save my daughter's life. Name withheld by request. Research from America Research that was announced by the USA’s National Institute of Health earlier this week stated that providing young children with swimming lessons has a protective effect against drowning and allayed concerns that lessons could increase risk by reducing parental supervision and vigilance. “We are delighted by the research because it conveys a message to our families that swim lessons are not only a valuable learning and health tool, but also a confirmed layer of protection against drowning accidents,” said Bob Hubbard, leading international learn-to-swim advocate. “If you want to take the next step in making your children safe around water, get them swimming to learn skills to last a lifetime.” The study concludes: Participating in formal swimming lessons was associated with an 88% reduction in the risk of drowning in children between the ages of 1 to 4 (March 09 Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2009; 163(3):203- 210 – published by the American Medical Association). Kids Alive advocate Laurie Lawrence was delighted with the study that reinforces what swim teachers around Australia have been saying for years. Lawrence said, “We know, from our own observation, children who are given year round swimming lessons from as early as six months can be self sufficient in the water by two years of age,” He added that, “By two with good instruction and regular practice they are capable of playing happily in deep water under strict adult supervision.” He warns, however that no child is drownproof and although children are capable of playing in deep water the parents must still remain vigilant with supervision at all times. Lawrence said it’s time to pop the champagne corks and get every child under five in Australia swimming as a drowning prevention measure. The research, completed under the direction of Duane Alexander, M.D., director at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, state the findings should ease concerns that swim lessons may lead to parental inattention. Theywent on to say, “Parents and caregivers who choose to enrol their children in swimming lessons should be cautioned that this alone will not prevent drowning and that even the most proficient swimmers can drown,” the study authors wrote. The authors concluded that their findings indicate that swimming lessons could appropriately be considered for inclusion as part of a complete prevention program, along with fencing for pools, appropriate adult supervision, and training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation for parents and caregivers. For the full press release from the National Institute of Health, please visit http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/030209- Drowning-Risk.cfm. Swim Australia CEO, Ross Gage, concurred with the study: “reinforcing the value of being able to swim in adding another layer of protection is important news; however, it does not negate the absolute importance of constant supervision, proper barriers (eg regulation pool fencing) and CPR capabilities. The children become ‘safer’, far from ‘drown-proofed’ or ‘water-safe’”. Gage also added, “for various ‘swimming’ skills to be effective in a water safety situation, they must be practiced frequently and over a prolonged period of time. Additionally, as the child gets older and is exposed to larger, more complex potential water hazards, they need to become proficient at a range of swimming ‘strokes’ and build their stamina with same. The learn-to-swim and water safety experience requires a long-term commitment. This is the ‘must-do’ extra-curricular activity that parents need to ‘lock-in’ from infancy to around mid-primary school.” A Letter From A Mum Dear Santa I’ve been a good mum all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc.bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store. I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn’t broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone. On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, ‘Yes, Mummy’ to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting ‘Don’t eat in the living room’ and ‘Take your hands off your brother,’ because my voice seems to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family. Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don’t catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet. Yours Always, A MUM! P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children HOW MANY PEOPLE DROWNED IN 2004/04? 227 people drowned in Australia in the financial year 2003/4. The good news is that less people are drowning than five years ago and the drowning rate and numbers of people drowning are both down on the five-year average.The drowning rate per 100,000 people decreased from the five year average of 1.56 to 1.39, a decrease of 11%.However, this figure is an increase of 27 on least years report. WHO DROWNS IN AUSTRALIA Last year there were 212 (77%) males, 59 (21%) females and 6(2%) cases where the gender was unknown who drowned,making males about four times more likely to drown than females.This is consistent with the five-year average (79%). All age groups under 45 years are down compared to the five-year average.All age groups over 45 years are up compared to the five-year average, except the 65+ years age group which remains constant. The largest decrease from the five-year average was the 0-5 years age group, which is down to 40 from 54, a decrease of 26%. Improvement against the five-year average was also made in the 6-14, 15-24, 25-34 and 35-44 year age groups, which are down by 38%, 13%, 8% and 8% respectively. HOW MANY TODDLERS DROWNED? 40 children aged 0-5 years drowned in 2003/04.The good news is this figure is down by 26% (54-40) on the five-year average. However, 40 preventable drowning deaths are far too many. Whilst pleased with this reduction overall, drowning deaths on a year-to-year basis appear to be see-sawing, with five more deaths than the previous year.More work is needed to achieve a consistent year on year reduction in toddler drowning.The message from Royal Life Saving is that children need to be constantly supervised (within arms reach) and participate in water familiarisation activities, pool owners must fence their pools and parents should learn Resuscitation. Remember “Keep Watch” at all times. HOW DID THE TODDLERS ACCESS THE WATER The majority of toddler drowning deaths resulted from the child falling into or wandering into the water.This is often into swimming pools where access to the pool is not restricted (ie the play area and the pool are in the same space) or the gate has been left open. All children under the age of 5 years should be actively supervised (ie within arms reach) at all times when in, on or around water.
When is the best time to commence an aquatic program?
Is my child at risk of infectious diseases?
What are the benefits of aquatic programs? swimming, survival skills, babies, kinder, learn to swim, survival, toddler, safety, training, happy healthy, confident, children, student, aquafit, exercise, weight lost, lifestyle, aerobics, training, lifestyle, pool safety, fence the pool, shut the gate, learn to resuscitate, drowning, child, kindergarten, bathers, diving, underwater, bubbles, baby, |
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 14 June 2009 09:23 |
